It is often commented that “if you stand still, life will pass you by”. This also relates to business.

The basic concept of any business is to buy well and sell for a profit or provide a service for a price that offers a suitable remuneration and ultimately a profit. How we utilise technology, and in particular our accounting software, to benefit our business is critical but it is becoming broader and ever more encompassing as time moves on.

This can greatly be attributed to the pace of technology advancements and, in line with standing still in life, it is equally important not to stand still in business. Your competitors are always looking to advance over you and you should be doing the same if you want to stay ahead.

With this in mind, I feel it prudent to mention the following…

Key requirements of modern business management software

Some popular business software products have been around for years and appear to be a good choice. On closer inspection however, they can reveal that they are based on old and limited technology. You need to invest in technology that looks to the future; technology that embraces modern techniques to empower you to adopt best practice and the flexibility you need to continuously enhance your competitive advantage.

Technology has moved on from the frequently asked question of which solution is best for me - ‘Out-of–the-box’ or ‘Fully Customised’. With the flexibility of .Net technology, it is now possible to get a standard ‘out-of-the-box’ configuration that can be quickly and cost-effectively customised to suit your exact needs.

Thanks to modern technology, business software features generally only afforded by larger businesses are now available to smaller companies. Things like workflows, scheduled reporting, dashboards, security policies, audit trails etc. are now available to any company looking to manage their business by exception, saving them many man hours trawling through data or reviewing manual business controls.

Continuous development in technology has greatly improved the flow of information throughout a business. It is now easier than ever before for the right people to receive the right information at the point of decision making. This is achieved through features like predefined triggered alerts, schedule reporting, user-specific dashboards, reports, data drills or pivot tables.

Expensive development work and costly upgrades are a thing of the past. Systems are now being developed without transaction limitations, with enough flexibility to grow with your business and never needing to be replaced

Embracing mobility. Business environments are changing dramatically and with an explosion of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, working from remote locations is now easier than ever before. Incorporating mobility into legacy software can be costly and complex. Modern ERP embraces mobility; increasing productivity, accelerating decision making, boosting profitability and improving customer satisfaction.

When reviewing systems, our prospects often point to the limitations of their existing system and are amazed at how much business software technology has moved on from their last purchase.

My advice is to consider your choice of accounting software carefully. Don’t just look at solving your current business needs today but consider your future needs down the line. And more importantly, examine the technology being used; is it old and outdated, creating limitations or new and progressive, creating opportunities.